


Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner

by ComputerGecko



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Asexual Character, Asexual Raphael Santiago, Blood, M/M, Vampires, jealous!simon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-08
Updated: 2017-08-08
Packaged: 2018-12-12 16:43:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11741064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComputerGecko/pseuds/ComputerGecko
Summary: There's a new vampire at the Hotel Dumort and Simon finds that he doesn't like it when Raphael calls anyone but him baby.





	Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner

**Author's Note:**

> First fic for this fandom! Hopefully there will be others.  
> Huge Thank yous go to [Jeraya](https://pbandj-klmnop.tumblr.com/) and [youneverhavetoproveyourselftome](http://youneverhavetoproveyourselftome.tumblr.com/) for helping beta this and helping me out when I got stuck! I couldn't have done this without you guys, you both rock!!
> 
> I draw malec, sapahel, and other shadowhunter stuff over on my [tumblr](http://computergecko.tumblr.com/) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/SaiJordison) if anyone wants to come hang out with me. I am always up for talking about this show and if anyone wants to submit any prompts I will write short drabbles!

Simon walks into the Hotel Dumort at 20 minutes to sunup, cutting it extremely close once again. He expects to be greeted by an annoyed Raphael like usual, but today there isn’t anyone there to greet him, which is extremely odd. All of his years of movie watching and game playing have him on alert, because nothing good ever comes from a place that is suspiciously void of (undead) life.

He walks quietly down the hall, careful to check around corners and in open doorways but he finds no one, no vampires and no intruders either. Are they under attack? Have they already been attacked and everyone is gathered in one room, held as hostages-- or worse, maybe they are already dead? Or, well, more dead. Deader. The deadest. He’s not sure what they call it, he should ask Raphael later, if he’s still alive.

With his vampire hearing he finally hears a noise when he draws closer to the Hotel’s lobby. He freezes where he stands, straining to listen. There is the sound of someone in pain, and Simon can’t recognize it but then his shoulders relax the tiniest bit when he hears the unmistakable voice of Raphael, who is definitely alive, or well not, but that’s beside the point; Raphael is not gone and there is still time to make sure it stays that way. Simon puts some of his supernatural strength into his walk as he rushes forward, probably not his best plan, but it all works out fine since when he bursts into the lobby he is not greeted by crossbows that shoot stakes, but instead his heroic entrance only garners a few curious looks.

Instead of some grand attack on the New York clan by super villains, the whole clan is gathered in the room, or at least most of them, and they seem to be surrounding the couches in the lobby for the would-be guests. Everyone looks pretty serious, and not much is being said, only some harsh breathing and some worried murmurs.

Simon can see Raphael in the center of everything, and usually the older vampire would be on him immediately, criticizing something he’s done wrong or insulting him in some language or another but he doesn’t even look up. Instead his brows are furrowed and he has a worried frown on his face as he concentrates on what everyone else seems to be. From his spot on the outskirts of the crowd, Simon can't see anything, but he does recognize the smell of blood, so it can’t be anything good.

Was someone hurt? Oh man, Simon really hopes it’s not Stan, Stan is his bro. He looks around and sighs in relief when he spots his favorite vampire bro standing among the crowd. He’s in a place Simon can get to so he makes his way over, excusing his way through the crowd.

“Hey, what’s the sitch?”

Stan turns to look at him, a smile twitching and the corners of his mouth for a second before he returns to his serious face, his expression almost grim. “Holzman’s dead.”

Simon blinked. “Ned’s gone? What happened?!” They hadn’t interacted very much, but the older vampire had enjoyed it when Simon brought Back to the Future in for the clan and had even borrowed his DVDs. He had ended up having to show him how to use a DVD player and ended up staying to watch it with him because he couldn’t resist. Ned was a nice guy. Simon would miss him.

Stan shrugs. “I arrived after it all went down.”

Simon’s still puzzled by the smell of blood, because it smells fresh, human, and then there’s the raspy breathing he can hear. Before he could ask more questions, Simon feels his spider-senses go off, though instead of danger they seem honed into Raphael. Not that Raphael wasn’t dangerous, he definitely was. Just not usually towards Simon.

Raphael walks into the room, silent as the grave (hah) as he strides to the middle of the crowd, people parting for him. Simon takes this opportunity to get in on the action, pushing forwards so he’s standing near Raphael. He almost regrets it when he sees the mess on the couch.

Lying on the couch is a barely breathing man, covered in blood and his chest ripped open pretty badly. Simon looks away, not wanting to lose the contents of his stomach. Not that the couch wasn’t already ruined with blood. 

“Oh G-” Simon chokes on the word, like usual. Raphael turns to look at him, only just seeming to notice him. “What happened to him?”

“Not now baby.” And he sounds serious this time, not like he normally does but like something is seriously wrong, so Simon zips his mouth shut because he doesn't want to interfere when someone’s life is on the line. Raphael turns back to the scene in front of them, and Lily is by his side the next second.

“Tell me what happened,” Raphael demands, and Simon reminds himself that it is completely inappropriate to be thinking how attractive he is right now. Simon suspects he’s starting to develop some sort of power kink when it comes to Raphael.

A vampire steps forward, and Simon notices he’s covered in blood. If he’s remembering right, his name is Damien. “Ned and I were visiting Anthony at a construction site about the change when there was an accident. The ground at the site was unstable, it collapsed, as did the structure. Ned didn’t survive. I brought Anthony here.”

Change? Simon wonders, were they changing locations? That's the only reason he can think they would be talking with construction workers. Simon was just starting to get settled at the Dumort, he liked it, though he guesses with the collapse they will be staying here longer.

Beside him Raphael swears under his breath, and Simon watches as he brings his wrist up to his mouth, letting his fangs drop. He bites into his wrist, and deep red blood blooms from the bite. Simon’s eyes widen and he grabs onto his arm when he moves to take a step forward.

“Woah! You can’t just change him! We have to take him to a hospital, not just assume he’ll die, and even then-,” Simon can feel panic clawing its way up his throat and he can't get the words out, this situation is all too familiar. Raphael’s glare softens, and he places his free hand on Simon’s shoulder. He’s glad he’s still alive-ish, but he really wishes he was still human, that he had been given the choice. He would have turned it down had Camille asked him.

“He’s already signed the forms, he was going to be changed next week. I talked to him myself.” Simon feels the phantom grip around his throat relax, and he lets go of Raphael’s arm.

“Oh.” That's what they must have meant by change, then.

Raphael steps forward and lowers his wrist to the other’s mouth, letting the blood drip into his mouth. Lily steps up and makes sure he swallows. Raphael stands there, letting the blood flow through his wrist until the wound heals.

The next few minutes are tense as Simon stands there with everyone else while they listen to the weak heartbeat fade into nothing and the man breathes his last breath.

“Take him to get cleaned up, then bury him in the basement. I’ll be down after I grab some blood bags from the kitchen.” Simon addresses a couple vampires to his right, who both nod and take off, one picking up the body while the other heads towards the basement. Simon hadn’t known they had a basement with exposed dirt.

Raphael frowns at the couch situation. He uses his foot to slide the couch forward, and his frown deepens when he sees that the blood is all over the carpet and will likely need to be replaced. He looks up and looks around the room, at all the vampires still gathered.

"Get some sleep everyone," he says to the crowd. He turns and leaves without saying anything more, and Simon hurries after him. Raphael looks over when Simon catches up, matching his strides. Raphael looks tired, his expression grim and jaw tight. His brows are furrowed, creating a line between his brows that doesn’t subtract from his handsome face. Simon gets lost for a second staring at him, thinking it's unfair how he always manages to look frustratingly handsome.

"You doing okay?" he asks when he snaps back to himself. Raphael sighs in response, a rare thing.

"It's time for bed, Lewis." Simon winces at the use of his last name and Raphael's annoyance. "Can we not do this right now?"

"Oh, uh, sure," he slows to a stop and Raphael keeps walking towards his room. Simon stands in the hallway and watches him go, an empty feeling in his chest mixed with confusion. Had he done something to piss Raphael off? He stands there long after Raphael turns the corner out of sight until he manages to drag himself out of his despair and to his own coffin.

He doesn’t sleep well that day.

Xxx

He wakes the next night to find a note taped to the outside of his coffin. He knows from scent that it's from Raphael. He pulls it off of his casket, eyes scanning over the neat, loopy handwriting.

_Simon,_

_I shouldn't have snapped at you last night. Forgive me._

_Raphael._

Simon smiles at the note, folding it carefully and tucking it away somewhere it won't get swept away. He understands that Raphael was probably just under a lot of stress last night, and it had hurt but he would always forgive him, especially for little things like this.

He doesn’t bother changing out of his pajamas (a pair of university sweats with a worn Avengers t-shirt) as he pads over to the kitchen to grab some breakfast. There is a pitcher of blood in the fridge, so Simon pours himself a glass, not bothering to warm it up. He takes his glass and wanders into the dining area where he sees a few others having their breakfast. It's not anyone he recognizes enough to sit with until Lily walks in behind him, and he waves at her. She nods at him.

"Good morning, Simon." Simon swears his eyes almost bug out of his head, shocked at her actually using his name, instead of fledgling or baby.

"Y-yeah, morning."

She goes and sits by herself, and Simon is unsure if he should push his luck and sit with her. Instead, he turns and wanders out to the lobby instead. By the time he meanders over there he's finished his meal so he sets the glass aside. He makes a mental note to remember to pick it up before he leaves or else Raphael will have his head.

When he walks into the lobby everything looks fixed. The carpet has been replaced, and there is a new couch. There are a few more vampires than normal walking around, likely trying to get things not to smell so weird. Simon is still not used to using his enhanced senses, so he can’t really tell unless he tries.

He takes a seat on one of the couches against the wall and grabs one of the TV remotes, turning it on. Not much ever plays at night, and he's been nagging Raphael to get HBO, Starz, Netflix, anything so he's not stuck watching public access TV where most of his choices were late night auction shows. He’d said he would consider it, so that was something, but for now Simon settles on some documentary about fish.

He kicks his feet up onto the couch and settles back against the arm, getting comfy. The couches aren't too bad.

He's getting kind of into the documentary, or that's the excuse he tells himself when he nearly jumps out of his skin when he feels a hand on his shoulder. He nearly falls off of the couch as he turns to find Raphael standing above him.

"Raphael!" he squeaks, reaching up to adjust his glasses, but aborts the movement when he remembers he doesn't need them anymore. It’s a habit he still has even after all this time.

"Feet off the couch until you can afford to replace it." Raphael walks around and moves Simon's legs for him and takes a seat, leaning back into the couch.

Raphael joins him in watching TV, though Simon has a hard time concentrating on anything other than Raphael beside him. The couch wasn't very big, a loveseat really, so they were sitting rather close.

"I uh- I got your note," He starts, and Raphael looks over at him, waiting. "I uh, forgive you. Not there was anything to forgive, really. I get it, you were stressed, it’s fine."

Raphael doesn't say anything to that. He looks tired, and Simon would offer to hug him but he values his undead life. Instead he just sits with Raphael in silence for as long as he can, trying not to fidget but in doing so makes things worse, since thinking about sitting still causes him to get anxious and then he starts tapping his fingers on his stomach. Raphael reaches over and grabs his hand, stilling it.

“ _Dios mio_ baby, stop fidgeting.”

Simon sucks in a breath, and he's sure he would have been blushing if he still had the ability to. Raphael's eyes meet his and Simon is caught in his spell, frozen in place as he stares back into his leader’s dark eyes.

Things like this have been happening between them lately. Moments where the world slips away and it feels like he and Raphael are the only two left.

It had first happened a week after Simon had gone back to the Dumort, after a training session that was particularly brutal. Simon had discovered that Raphael had never seen Star Wars before. Simon had been insistent that he watch it, even agreeing to do the blood runs if he agreed. No one voluntarily wanted to do the blood runs, they were boring and took up most of your night. Raphael had rolled his eyes but agreed, and the next night he dragged his laptop over to Raphael's room and they sat on opposite ends of his couch, laptop sat on the coffee table.

At one point Raphael had laughed, over what Simon doesn't remember, but it was a short, small thing. Almost a snort. But it was completely different from that time he had laughed after Simon threw the knife at him. Simon found himself unable to look away until Raphael caught him and he quickly turned back to the movie, his stomach fluttery with an emotion he did not want to acknowledge.

Something had shifted then, and moments like that happened more and more frequently. Simon had been confused, denying it to himself late at night when he couldn’t stop thinking about a certain clan leader. It had all come to an abrupt stop when they had let Camille loose and suddenly Simon felt his dead heart shattering as Raphael ordered his more permanent death.

He didn't have much time to think more on it, with everything going down but when he finally got a moment to breath, Simon still felt like he'd been staked in the heart, and he had finally admitted things to himself. He was no longer able to deny what was obvious to him either, that he had feelings for Raphael.

After things got patched up they were still rocky, and Simon was pretty sure he had missed any chance he had with Raphael, if he’d had one to begin with. But here, now, staring into Raphael's eyes, he feels hope again.

Simon's heart tries its best to jump start again as he sees Raphael's eyes flick down, to his lips, and Simon finds himself leaning forward, drawn towards him.

"What are you watching?" Simon jumps at the words, snapping out of his daze.

"Huh?" Simon blinks at him, his brain trying to catch up.

"The TV. What are you watching?" Raphael is looking away from him now, sitting back and away from Simon. Simon stomps down on the disappointment, knowing that they had a long way to go before they got back to where they had been before, let alone acting on this thing between them. At least now he could hope he still had a chance.

“Oh, um." He looks over at the television and the documentary had ended and some sort of fishing show is on now. "I'm not entirely sure? Just whatever was on that wasn’t infomercials. We don't get anything good here."

The conversation changed, Simon going into his rant about having good TV channels, while Raphael rolled his eyes. It easily moved on to other things, Simon doing most of the talking as he gave Raphael a play by play of Braveheart. He also manages to get Raphael to agree to watch National Treasure with him someday, much to his eternal excitement.

It almost feels like scheduling a date, but he pushes those thoughts away for now.

Eventually the moment has to end, Raphael is in high demand as the clan leader, so Simon takes what he can get. Lily walks into the room and heads for them, Raphael getting up to greet her. Simon watches their exchange from the couch.

"How are things progressing?"

"He made it. They should be back soon." Simon perked up at this. He had nearly forgotten they were getting a new vampire.

"That’s good news. He can stay in the room across from Damien, at least for now. Get someone to make it up, get a coffin down there."

Lily nods and takes her leave with a wave of dismissal from Raphael. He turns back to Simon, "I've got things to attend to now, but I'll consider contacting someone about cable."

Simon beamed up at him and waves his goodbye. He watches another episode of whatever is on the television before he gets bored and goes to find Stan.

xxx

Simon hardly sees Raphael for the next two days, the other vampire busy helping out the newbie. Simon still doesn't remember his name, and he probably should have asked but it doesn't really cross his mind much.

He spends most of those nights either playing video games with Stan or out on the town with Clary and Izzy.

On the third night Raphael calls for a clan meeting, and he introduces everyone to the new vampire. Apparently his name is Anthony. He's probably around the same height as Jace, with blond, cropped hair and the body of a construction worker, which apparently was his old profession and where the accident leading to his un-death occurred. He's a little older than Simon was at 23, but he seems like a cool dude and at least Simon will have someone around who will likely understand some of his references.

This joy is short lived.

"Baby here had pledged his loyalty to the clan, therefore he's part of the family now."

Simon feels everything in him freeze as jealousy grips at him. He feels his fangs drop as he loses control of them. He keeps his mouth shut, even though he has the urge to start growling, to hiss at this newcomer who’s far too close to Raphael. Baby was Simon’s nickname. Sure, he wasn't overly fond of it and he could do with less teasing. Okay, so actually he didn't like it at all and was glad he was no longer the 'baby', but hearing Raphael call this new vampire baby was just. Not. Okay.

Baby was _his_ nickname. That was what Raphael called Simon, not this- this newly turned hunk of muscle. Raphael must have noticed something was off as he caught Simon's eye over the crowd, arching an eyebrow at him in question. Simon turned his face down in response, looking at the floor.

"I expect you all to treat him accordingly, help him get his bearing should he need help." Simon hears Raphael say to everyone, and when he glances back up Raphael has turned back to the vampire, who is smiling at him. "Welcome to the family."

Simon doesn’t bother trying to be stealthy as he flees the room, leaving the hotel and heading out into the night.

xxx

After wandering around for an hour, letting the cool spring air help clear his head, he finds himself standing at the door to his mom's house. He hasn't knocked yet, unsure if he should or not, but he should make a decision quickly before someone calls the police again because there's is a suspicious figure outside.

He sighs and raises his hand, knocking. With his enhanced hearing he can hear his mom getting up from her chair and shuffling her way to the door. There is a pause where she is definitely looking through the peephole before the door is being thrown open and he's enveloped in a warm hug.

He laughs and hugs her back, careful to watch his strength. She pulls back from her hug, hands on his biceps as she holds him at arm's length, looking him over to make sure he is okay. When she sees he's not beat up or sick she levels him with a glare.

"Simon Eli Lewis, where have you been?" she scolds, and Simon feels extremely guilty. It's probably been a little over a week since he's even texted her. He feels like a lousy son.

"Sorry mom, I know I haven't called in a while. Things got busy with the band, it's been pretty crazy."

She frowns at him but then just sighs and hugs him again before drawing him inside before he can 'catch a cold.' He is pretty sure that won't be an issue for him, but he realizes he's not entirely sure. He makes a mental note to ask Raphael later if vampires can get sick. The thought of Raphael sours his mood again, bringing a frown to his face.

"What's wrong?"

"Huh? Nothing's wrong, everything is great." she gives him a look telling him she is not falling for any of his weak bullshit. He sighs. "I just, band drama. My manager, he-" Simon waved his hand in the air, struggling to find words. Raphael hadn't done anything technically, it was all Simon this time and his jealousy. He ends up sighing again instead of finishing his sentence. "It's just complicated. It made me miss home so I ended up walking here."

She smiles softly at him, and Simon has missed this so much, missed seeing her smile and her hugs and his chest aches knowing that someday he won’t have it anymore. He forces those thoughts aside, not wanting to think about that ever.

She tugs him inside and into the living room. The TV is paused, and Simon recognizes the film immediately. “You’re watching Braveheart and you didn't even invite me?” he shakes his head, “That’s really cold.”

“I’m not going to invite you over every time i decide i want to watch something you like or I’d be restricted DC hero movies.”

“Hey, Wonder Woman is amazing, So maybe they’ll finally get their act together.” She’s not wrong about the rest. Simon likes the earlier Batman movies and The Dark Knight, Heath Ledger was amazing as the joker, but the rest were just terrible.

Simon ends up talking about the Marvel Cinematic universe for the next hour, his worries fading away into the background.

Xxx

It's 4 am and Simon’s sitting in his room looking through all of his old stuff when there is a knock at his window. His mother has long gone to bed, having nodded off during the movie they were watching together at about one. Simon gently shook her awake once the credits had started to roll and made sure she got to bed.

He has a pretty good idea who is knocking at his window, and thinks for a moment to ignore it when he hears Raphael say, "I know you're in there, Lewis."

Simon sighs and pulls the curtain back, revealing Raphael crouching outside his window, scowl painted on his face. Simon opens the window for him and the older vampire steps inside, looking around his room. Raphael keeps his hands tucked into his pockets as he walks around his room, Simon watching as he does so.

"Is something wrong?" Simon eventually asks, tone clipped. He knows Raphael hasn't done anything but Simon still doesn’t feel like seeing him right now.

"I feel I should be asking you that, idiota."

Simon frowns, not appreciating the name right now. "I can come visit my family," he says, crossing his arms over his chest defensively. Raphael watches him carefully.

"You know you need to be careful," Raphael tells him, and Simon doesn’t know where all this irritation is coming from but he really isn’t in the mood to hear this right now.

"I am, okay? I'm just visiting for the night, she's not going to find out." He hadn't even brought any blood with him this time, since it would just be a short visit and he didn’t want them to find it. Raphael seems to want to protest but he just clenches his jaw before forcing himself to relax.

"It was just a reminder. Next time make sure you text me or tell someone if you are staying out past sunrise."

"You're not my mother," Simon rolls his eyes at Raphael.

"No but I'm your clan leader, and we look after our family, Simon. That includes you."

Simon knows he's acting childish now, but he can't seem to stop. He huffs and sits onto his bed, tired. "Fine. Ill text you next time."

"It's all I ask," Raphael stands there, and the silence lingers between them, charged. The other vampire seems to have more to say, but he doesn’t say anything after a few minutes and neither does Simon.

"You should probably get back," he says when he can't stand it any longer, feeling like he might burst again. "Sun will be up soon."

Raphael just gives him another long, assessing look before nodding once. "Good night, Simon."

When Simon doesn't say anything back Raphael climbs out the window and shuts it behind himself, leaving Simon alone with this thoughts. He has never been more frustrated with his own name before. He wraps himself up in his blankets after securing his curtains and falls into another fitful sleep.

xxx

The next night Simon bids his mother goodnight and promises to stay in touch more. He wanders over to the Dumort, but doesn’t go inside, Instead he turns around and heads to the institute instead, where he ends up spilling everything to Clary and she stays up watching movie with him. It's nice, almost feels like the old days before all of this crazy stuff happened, only instead of his mind being occupied by Clary it's instead stuck on a certain frustrating vampire.

When it's getting close to sun up Simon pulls his phone out and sends a quick text to let Simon know he's not coming home. He may be avoiding him, but he doesn't want to make the man worry.

_'I'm staying with Clary tonight'_

_'Thank you for texting me'_

It's not long before he gets a response. He reads it over and then locks his phone, throwing it onto the nightstand. A minute later it vibrates again and curiosity has him grabbing it again and quickly scanning the new text without unlocking it.

_'Stay safe'_

Simon sighs softly, not loud enough to draw Clary's attention. He stares at the words for a few moments until the screen times out and goes dark. Simon sets his phone aside gently this time. He draws his legs up to his chest and wraps his arms around them, chin resting on his knees as he returns his attention to the movie, or tries to anyway. He finds himself unable to focus on the movie, his eyes unfocused as he gets caught in his thoughts.

Clary eventually nudges him and wraps him in a hug, telling him things will be okay. He hopes that they will and eventually they pass out well after the sun has already come up.

Xxx

Simon returns the next night because he’s hungry. After drinking his fill he wanders to Raphael’s room but the older vampire is not there. It’s not unusual, Raphael is usually out and about making the most of the night.

He stops by his room next to change into a clean set of clothes. He steps inside and promptly trips over something, landing face first in the carpet. He glances down and sees his cup from the other day laying on its side, a note taped to it.

_‘I’m not your housekeeper_ ’ is written in Raphael's familiar handwriting.

Simon rolls his eyes and takes the glass to the kitchen after changing clothes. With nothing else to do, Simon wanders around the hotel, trying to use his senses to track Raphael down. It’s not easy but he eventually find him on the second floor, where there’s a gym reserved for training.

Simon peeks his head in and sees Raphael standing in the middle of the room, looking impeccable as always while the new guys is looking worse for wear, chest heaving and dried blood on his chin. Simon winces, remembering all the times he had bitten his lip with his new fangs in the beginning, specially during training.

Simon watched as Raphael urged him to try again, and the new vampire sped towards him, and Simon wonders if he too had been that slow. Raphael dodges again, and Anthony goes flying to the matted ground, busting his lips open again as he gets a fang straight through.

Raphael helps him up, and Simon swears he sees red when Raphael reaches out tilts Anthony’s chin this way and that, inspecting the rapidly healing wound.

“That was a nasty one, huh?” Anthony remarks, his smile bloody yet charming in a Chris Evans’ Captain America sort of way that makes Simon want to switch to Team Iron Man right then and there.

“You’ll get used to it,” Raphael lets his hand fall back down and takes a step away, walking across the room. Simon feels himself relax. He watches Raphael grab a blood bag and toss it over to the new guy, who laughs. Simon hates that he has dimples too, thinks that they make his face look stupid.

“I suppose I will. Can’t expect to be perfect at it overnight. I know I’ll be glad when I can finally get these to go away,” he’s poking his fang with his tongue, then winces when it cuts.

“Simon was able to retract his after a few days, but it may take longer.” Simon realizes now that Raphael hasn’t even noticed his presence yet. He wonders if he should announce himself and stop eavesdropping.

“Who’s Simon?” Oh right, they haven’t met yet. Simon takes that as his queue to walk in, putting a smile on his face.

“That’s me, I’m Simon,” he adds in a wave as they both turn to look at him. Anthony smiles in greeting, walking over towards him.

“Anthony, nice to meet you.” They shakes hands, and then Simon steps back, looking over at Raphael. The older vampire is watching him already.

“You’re home,” he states, and the words cause a pleasant shiver up his spine. Home.

Raphael holds up another blood bag towards Simon, a question. Simon shakes his head. “I was starving when I got here so I went straight to the kitchen.”

Raphael nods, and hums in response. He brings the bag up to his own mouth instead and bites into it. He drains it quickly, and when he pulls it away there is a trickle of blood down his chin that Simon suddenly had the urge to wipe away. With his tongue.

He goes to step towards him but suddenly there is a wall of muscle blocking him and he watches as Anthony swipes his thumb over Raphael’s chin and then brings it to his mouth, licking it clean. Simon wants to push him off a bridge.

Raphael just takes a step back and clears his throat. Anthony snaps out of his blood lust and looks terribly embarrassed. “I am so sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Raphael responds, “you’ll get used to that too. You’re still just a baby.”

Simon feels his mood sour even more, and he wants to leave but doesn’t want to leave Raphael alone with this newcomer. Raphael notices his frown and walks over to him.

Cold hands are cupping his cheek, and Raphael is looking at him with concern. Simon nearly melts into him. Out of the corner of his eye he sees blondie watching them and thinks _‘good, let him see that Raphael is mine.’_ It almost startles him, how possessive he’s being. Was it a vampire thing?

“What’s wrong, Simon?”

“It’s nothing, it’s just stupid things,” he waves a hand in the air, gesturing vaguely. He needs to come up with something before he blurts out something stupid like ‘You’re mine.’ “Clary is having troubles with Jace again, just dumb shadowhunter stuff.”

Raphael frowns, seems to close off a little and he nods and lets his hands fall. Simon curses himself, knowing that bringing up Clary is not the best idea. Raphael turns away and heads back into the center of the gym. Simon follows.

“So, will there be a new training schedule? Are we going to switch off? That sort of thing?”

“Darius will be taking over your training from now on,” Raphael throws over his shoulder.

Simon halts. “What? Why?”

“I don’t have time to train the both of you and run a clan.” Simon supposes that's a good reason, but he still doesn't like it. 

“For how long?” He doesn't mean to sound so petulant but that's how his words come out. Raphael turns to look at him, his brows knit together in confusion. 

“There’s no effective end date. When you finish your training Darius will let you know.”

“But I want to train with you.” Simon crosses his arms over his chest, realizes how that looks and uncrosses them, letting them hang awkwardly. Anthony is silently watching them, suffling awkwardly near the training equipment near Raphael.

“I wasn’t going to train you forever, you would have been passed on to Darius sooner or later. I have a clan to run.”

Simon isn’t happy with this. It must show on his face, because Raphael is full on scowling at him now.

“Is there a problem?” he snaps, and Simon is bitterly reminded that Raphael is his leader, not just his friend/ crush.

“No,” he grinds out, “no problem here.” They both know that’s as far from the truth as possible.

“Good. You’ll be starting with him tomorrow in the west raining hall. If you’ll excuse me I have to get back to work.” Simon basically stomps out of the room, glaring at Anthony as he goes, who just holds up his hands in surrender.

Simon grumbles to himself as he makes his way to the kitchen, grabbing a few blood bags before he goes back to his room and grabs his bag, shoving the blood and his laptop inside along with a couple of shirts and a change of underwear. He slings the bag over his shoulder and speeds his way back to the institute.

Xxx

By the third day Simon is starting to get pretty hungry, but was still not ready to face Raphael. He knew the others were right, he just needed to stop being childish and actually talk to him. He would do it tomorrow. For sure.

Unluckily for him Izzy kicks him out of the institute that night, telling him not to come back until he has at least talked to Raphael. Simon grumbles under his breath about never telling her anything personal again as he drags his feet to the hotel.

Like the mature adult he is he heads to the hotel to talk things out with Raphael. Then he immediately turns around and leaves before he makes it to the door. Luckily no one had spotted him, and he escapes easily. He’s halfway down the street when a hand on his shoulder causes him to jump, letting out a high pitched shriek as he trips towards the ground. His attacker is kind enough to catch him before he kisses the sidewalk, pulling him back so he instead tumbles back into said attacker.

Simon is instantly surrounded by a familiar scent, one that he had missed greatly, that has him a little lightheaded with the rush. _Raphael._

“Do you get some weird kick out of this stereotypical vampire shtick, sneaking up on people out of the shadows-” Simon turns his head to look over his shoulder at Raphael, to glare at him, but freezes when he realizes just how close their faces are now.He’s so close that if Simon leaned forward less than an inch they would be kissing.

Simon jumps away, putting a few feet of space between them.

“Simon.” Simon turned around slowly, shuffling his feet and taking a greater interest in looking at the ground.

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out.” _Good one Lewis. You’re really nailing this right now._

Raphael’s brow is furrowed and he's frowning when Simon finally looks up at him. It’s a familiar look. Often times seen when Simon talks to him about pop culture references. Sometimes Simon does it on purpose just to see him make this face, but mostly it was just the way Simon talked.

“I don’t know why I said that. I’m not exactly sure what it means, it doesn’t make much sense honestly. I’m sure we could look it up, but it’s just a thing people say-” Simon stops his babbling when Raphael rolls his eyes at him.

“I know what that one is, it was around when I was still human.” Raphael takes a few steps forward until he’s in Simon's personal space again. He is glad being a vampire doesn't require breathing because if he were human he would probably develop some sort of asthma after long exposure to Raphael, his breath always coming short or disappearing altogether.

“You don’t look good. Have you been eating?” Raphael is glaring at him now but his voice has an edge of concern to it. Simon has long learned that Raphael is terrible at emotions.

“The institute’s kitchen isn’t exactly well stocked on blood,”

“Dios, Simon. You can’t do that, what if you lost control?”

“I wasn’t going to hurt anyone.”

“It’ not just about that. If you went on a blood lust in the institute of all places, surrounded by Nephilim,” He doesn't need to say what would happen, they both know. Simon is sure that his friends there would help him but if it happened when they weren't around…

“It’s fine, nothing happened,” He smiles weakly. Simon’s pretty hungry after three days but not too bad off. .

Raphael glares at him but Simon just stares back at him, having built up a tolerance already. Raphael does something unexpected, holding up his wrist for Simon. “Here.”

Simon blinks at him. “Did you get a new watch? Because I don’t see anything? Am I missing something?”

Raphael shakes his wrist, “Drink. I just ate, I can spare some.” Simon’s jaw drops, and he hesitates, not sure what to do. It seems really intimate? Not that he would mind getting intimate with Raphael, but he also doesn't want to get his hopes up cause maybe this is a normal thing too. Raphael seems to get fed up with waiting for him, bringing his wrist up to his own mouth and biting down into his wrist.

The second blood wells up from the wound Simon’s hunger makes itself known, his stomach twisting up almost painfully, aching with how empty it is. The blood smells divine, and Raphael is offering it to him, it would be rude to refuse.

He steps forward and latches onto the offered wrist, choking back a moan at his hunger is finally starting to abate. He drinks greedily, the normally metallic taste has a hint of sweetness that is intoxicating. Simon wonders if Raphael is holding out on him, if he’s drinking the equivalent of homemade cooking to Simon’s 99 cent TV dinner or if it’s just Raphael himself.

Either way Simon wants more.

Eventually, though too soon to satisfy him, there is a hand at the back of his neck, easing him off. He extracts his fangs and licks over the wound, getting every last drop of blood from Raphael’s skin. He feels drunk and admittedly a bit aroused as he looks up at Raphael. He’s not sure what kind of expression Raphael is looking at him with.

He pulls the sleeve of his jacket over the already healed wound, and Simon watches his wrist disappear mournfully but it helps with his daze and he can focus more.

“Something is different. I feel-- dizzy?”

“That will fade. It’s a small side effect from feeding from a vampire. It has a greater effect on others,” Raphael grimaces at this, and Simon wants to ask why, before he suddenly remembers the incident with Camille, how it felt kind of like this but more intense. He doesn’t really want to think about her or that. He knows Raphael still feels guilty about that. Simon no longer blames him though, Raphael genuinely tried to help him. Has helped him.

They decide to walk, give Simon’s head a chance to clear, and by the time it has they have wandered into a park. There is a small playground which Simon gravitates towards. He Sits in one of the swings, and Raphael takes the one next to him.

“Feeling better?”

“Yeah. Thanks, for uh, sharing.”

“Why haven’t you come home?”

“I lost track of time?” Raphael shoot him a look showing he doesn’t buy it. “Yeah, it was worth a shot.”

They lapse into silence again. Raphael eventually breaks it with his patented why-do-i-put-up-with-Simon sigh. “If this is about training, I can try to work something out. I’m only going to be able to give you a few hours a week.”

“No, you don’t have to do that. I was being childish. You have a clan to run and I remember what it’s like being new and unable to control all these new instincts and abilities, not that i'm a master now but I’m better- and he’s going to need a good teacher.”

Raphael nods. “I didn’t do it cause I didn’t want to train with you anymore.”

“I know.”

“Though he’s much more cooperative than you, he actually listen to me.”

“Psh, you like when i challenge you, gives your boring eternal life some spice.”

“Keep telling yourself that,” Raphael snarks back at him and Simon laughs, swinging over and bumping their shoulders together lightly.

“If it wasn’t the training then what was it? Is it my new fledgling? Because if you’re mad about the baby vampire-”

“Don’t call him that.” Simon cuts him off, Raphael’s eyes widening at Simon’s tone before they narrow and Simon wishes he had kept his big mouth shut.

“Are you jealous?”

“And what if I am?” he snaps, looking away. He can feel the look of shock Raphael is giving him. Simon keeps his gaze on the ground where he traces patterns in the woodchips with his shoes absently. “I don’t like it when you call anyone else that.”

Raphael clears his throat. “Simon…”

Simons stands abruptly from the swings, deciding that he is _definitely not_ ready to hear this. Not when Raphael’s voice sounds hesitant, apologetic, like he’s going to let him down easy or something. It’s not the tone he had been hoping for. “Nevermind, just forget it.”

He gets a few steps away when he is halted by a tight grip on his arm. He stands there, frozen. He can't move, can't run away, as his heart starts to break in his chest. Why does he always fall for people who don't see him as anything other than friends? 

“Simon wait. It’s- It’s complicated.”

“No it’s not, it’s fine, you don’t like me that’s okay I just- I need to go, I need time okay?” He tugs on his arm but Raphael is much stronger than him. 

“No that’s not-” Raphael lets out a sound of frustration, spinning Simon around so that they are looking at each other. Simon tries to hide the fact that he feels like he might cry right now. Raphael reaches up and cradles his face in his hands. “Simon, I _do_ like you,” he asserts, stressing his words so that Simon can't misinterpret them.

“What?” Simon's eyes snap up to meet his, searching to see if he was being serious and not just playing a joke on him. He found that Raphael looked dead serious and Simon felt his previously breaking heart mending itself. 

“It’s just that I’m not--” Raphael struggles for words, expression pinched. “I can't offer you a normal relationship. I’m not- ” and Simon puts things together in his head, the pieces clicking together. 

“You're asexual.”

Raphael looks surprised. “...Yes, I am.”

Simon nods. “ Magnus kinda mentioned it to me the other day.” He’d also threatened to spend eternity hunting Simon down if he ever hurt Raphael. It was a scary experience.

Raphael rolls his eyes. “Of course he did.”

“Raphael, it’s fine. We don’t have to do that. Obviously I already like you, and we haven’t- y’know, anything, so it should be easy to continue to like you without more? Since I already like you? Um, this isn’t exactly coming out right, but it’s fine, we don’t have to have sex. I’d still like to try this, us.” Simon wants to simultaneously hug Raphael and throttle someone when he sees the uncertainty in Raphael’s eyes when the other vampire meets his gaze. Simon wants to end whoever it was who dared let Raphael think he was less just because he didn’t want sex.

"Are you sure?"

Raphael looks like he's ready to argue Simon to reconsider, and Simon can't have that so he surges forward and kisses Raphael. Then pulls back, horrified. “Is that okay? I should have asked, I’m so sorry-”

Raphael kisses him to shut him up, and Simon doesn't mind being shut up this way, prefers it actually. Raphael pulls away slowly, their foreheads still touching as they look at each other. Raphael smiles, small and soft. “That’s fine.”

“O-okay. Good. Kissing is good. Uh, we should probably talk about this,” He gestures in between them, because there’s going to be a them it seems and he wants to actually say it. “Are we dating now? Because I would very much like to be, but only if you want to be-”

Raphael kisses him again and Simon melts into him, “There are things we need to talk about, but not here.” he says when he pulls back again.

“Yeah we should probably go somewhere else, probably somewhere we won’t get the cops called on us for being at a park at 3 am, looking suspicious.” Simon has found this out the hard way when he was newer to being a vampire.

Raphael just gives him a fond look, “Let’s go home, baby.”

Simon beams at him, slipping his hand into Raphael’s. The older vampire doesn't pull away much to Simon’s delight. Together they walk home.

-el fin-


End file.
